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What happens next?Car makers are already scrabbling to access the funds made available this week, although it is clear that following the correct procedures will take some time.

Jaguar, Land Rover and Vauxhall are reported to be in line for almost half of the aid available, on account of their strong manufacturing bases in Britain.

Discussions with Mervyn Davies, regarding supplying access to liquidity funds, have already begun, and are seen by the car industry as the most crucial aspect of the package.

'Ideally we want to resolve this in weeks, and certainly in time for the March market,' says Everitt.

Whether Bank of England regulations can be overturned or circumnavigated so quickly seems unlikely, however.

Other schemes to stimulate the market are under discussion, but again these are some way off.

Mandelson has asked the SMMT to provide more information on scrappage schemes, which have been instigated in Germany.

Under the scheme, anyone who scraps a car that's more than nine years old and buys a new car is given a payment of around 2000. The aim is to get more fuel-efficient cars on the road, and stimulate the new car market.